Social has changed so much in the past decade. Yes, you can rattle off the platforms that were just a twinkle in their creators’ eyes a decade ago (Snapchat, Instagram, Pinterest etc). But it’s our approach to and application of social media that has really changed. Social used to be the intern’s role. Now it’s one of the key marketing pillars. And if there’s one theme arising from the latest BIMA Breakfast Briefing, it is that the future of social is set to be less about a new platform, and more about a new mindset.
Moderated by ContentCal’s founder and CEO, Alex Packham and held at The Club at The Ivy on 23 January, the briefing challenged some of the industry’s finest to give their take on where social media is going next.
Essi Nurminen, Senior Community Manager at Born Social explored how the fight for short term reach has been at the expense of meaningful interactions and effective long term brand building.
Jake Dubbins, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Media Bounty examined how the arrival of GDPR is the perfect opportunity to reassess consent, the relationships we build on social, and the role of conscious advertising in determining not just what our social ads say, but where they appear and who they appear alongside.
Zanna Wharfe, Senior Strategist at We Are Social spoke about the way brands are using AI to create emotional responses that build more meaningful, empathetic connections with social users.
And Blaise Grimes-Viort, Chief Services Officer at The Social Element looked at the latest Facebook feed changes and the “inevitable future” of chatbots.
As ever, our audience had the opportunity to contribute, with questions and discussions including:
• The relevance of Facebook
• Will we see money move away from social ads?
During and afterwards, the conversation continued on Twitter. Thanks for all the comments, which included:
We’ve forgotten the SOCIAL in social … chasing the short-term results. It’s all about Balance #BIMASocial Eventopedia UK @EventopediaUK
Interesting point at #BIMASocial “the next big thing will be change of mindset, not a new social platform.” @BIMA #social drp @drpgroup
Brands must start advertising consciously. Placements are becoming context. Beware! #BIMASocial CharSocial@char_social
If you missed it, you can catch up here. And if you haven’t already registered, the next BIMA Breakfast Briefing (Data and Analytics: Fuelling the Future of Digital) is on 27 Feb. Register here.